Today marks the kickoff of the Voodoo Experience in the heart of New Orleans. ML is taking this year off, but we have had documented an amazing time in years past.  Even though we aren’t going it doesn’t mean we can’t recommend some acts, amiright?! Ticket’s are still available, trust me this will be wayyy better than Halloween house party.

Here are some picks from ML (but don’t forget that discovering new artists is a clutch aspect of any music festival):

Muse; Ozzy Osbourne (that guy from MTV!!); MGMT (be sure to see mostly KIDS, if they do it lawls); Drake (Please report on his knee.);Metric; Hot Chip (sleeper pick of the festival!); Deadmau5 (biggest buzz on the festival scene this year?; Street Sweeper Social Club (Tom Morello+Boots Riley from The Coup=Win.); Paul Oakenfold; Florence and the Machine; Raphael Saadiq; Janelle Monae (one the best live acts of the year); Afrojack;  Kelis; the Crystal Method; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Crookers; Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Boys Noize.

Another new feature: guest appearances by rappers that make you scratch your head and say “WTF?”

I’m starting this off with a sublimely ridiculous pairing: KRS-One & nu-rap-metal 1 hit wonders Crazy Town on the latter’s song, “B-Boy 2000.”

I’m not even giving you an mp3 of this one because I’m so ashamed on KRS’s behalf.

The song starts with Crazy Town singer Epic (wish I was kidding) claiming “we’re taking hip-hop to a new level.” The then-34 year old Kris Parker sounds confused and old on this song, and his mercifully brief verse is not much better than Crazy Town singer’s verse. (I refuse to type his name again). Why is that?

If anyone has any other suggestions for future entries in the “WTF?” appearances, let me know in the comments or email me at aaron.shadescythe [at]gmail.com.

In other words, don’t be like these guys. Instead, be more like these guys…

Download: Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith – “Walk This Way”

Download: Boogie Down Productions – “Dope Beat” (sampling AC/DC – “Back In Black”)

Download: Public Enemy & Anthrax – “Bring The Noise”

Download: Body Count (Ice-T) – “Cop Killer”

Download: Sublime – “Doin’ Time (Remix)” featuring The Pharcyde

Download: Ice Cube – “Fuck Dying” featuring Korn

Download: Busta Rhymes – “This Means War!!” featuring Ozzy Osbourne (sampling Black Sabbath – “Iron Man”)

Download: Jay-Z – “Takeover” and Mos Def – “The Rape Over” (both sampling The Doors – “Five To One”)

Download: Big Pun – “Still Not A Player” featuring Incubus (from Loud Rocks)

[P.S. Motherfuck a Photoshop. Microsoft Paint WHAT!]

In a world filled with Fall Out Boy fifty-word-minimum-essay song titles, you still have to give it up to Escape The Fate for the first track on their debut EP There’s No Sympathy For The Dead, entitled “Dragging Dead Bodies in Blue Bags Up Really Long Hills.” So relax critics, this is a not a serious metal/hardcore band producing a concept album using blood-curdling guttural screams to convey their feelings on the idea of death. And honestly, if you’re looking for deep lyrical meaning in metal and hardcore, you might looking in the wrong place. Metalheads, please correct me on this one.

Undoubtedly, the accessibility of ETF’s sound is both their strength and weakness. When a new band provides the goods, fans either embrace it, proclaiming their eternal love for them, or reject it, citing buzz words such as “sellout”, “mainstream”, or “I don’t listen to that emo crap!”. More and more people are paying attention to record labels too, and what they stand for. In ETF’s case, Epitaph, the label started by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, has a long history of punk and punk rock acts, and is certainly a difficult label to live up to.

But whatever the verdict, the EP is full of busy vocal arrangements (singing, screaming, sing-screaming, and layering up the butt), tempo changes, double bass drumkick action, and when the guitars calm down enough, some pretty decent soloing. There is never a dull moment on this album, and if there is, you are probably too busy thinking about how you are really too good for this album.

Folks, the key is to not take them too seriously and enjoy the music, if you do in the slightest bit. Honestly they sound completely silly on their website, “‘I don’t wanna come off like an asshole,’ says outspoken Ronnie, ‘but we’re gonna be that change in music. I have a vision. I want people to have fun, put their fists in the air.’” I mean that’s not exactly going down in Bartlett’s, but whatever. Save the drama for your mama!

-JP

http://www.escapethefate.com/
http://myspace.com/escapethefate/

Recent and Upcoming:

Sept 26, 2006 – Dying Is Your Latest Fashion
May 23, 2006 – There’s No Sympathy For The Dead (EP)